Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-05-14

which grew many beautiful trees and flower
ing shrubs.
Presently this deiIle took turn, and
lovely slight unfolded itself 10 my eyes. De
fore US was vast cup Of green, from four to
six miles In extent, shaped like Roman
amphitheatre. Tho sides Of this great cup
were rocky and clothed with bush, but tho
center was OF tho richest meadow land,
Studded with single trees OF magnificent
growth, and watercd by meandering streams.
On this rich plain grazed herds OF goats and
cattle, but saw no sheep. At first l could
not imagine what this strange spot could be,
but presently 1t flashed upon me that II must
represent the crater Of some long extinct
volcano, which had afterward been a lake,
and was ultimately drained in some unex-
planned way. And here l may state that,
from my subsequent experience of this and
much larger but otherwise similar spot, that
/ shall have occasion TO describe by and by, |
have every reason to believe that this con-
clusion was correct. What puzzled me, how
ever, was that. although there were people
moving about herding the goats and cattle, l
saw no signs of any human habitation Where
did they all livelI wondered. My curiosity
was destined soon 10 be gratined. Turning
to the left, the string of filters followed tho
cliffy sides Of the crater for distance Of
about half a mile, or perhaps little less, and
then halted. Seeing the old gentleman, my
adopted "father," Billali, emerge from his
litter, l did the same, and so did Leo and Job.
Tho first thing ] saw was our wretched Arab
companion, Mahomed, lying exhausted on
the ground. 1t appeared that he had not been
provided with a litter, but had been forced to
run the entire distance, and, as he was already
quite worn out when we started, his condition
now was one Of great prostration.
| On looking round we discovered that the
place where we had halted was platform in
| front OF the mouth Of great cave, and piled
upon this platform were the entire contents OF
the whaleboat, even down to the oars and SAIL
Round the cave stood groups Of the men who
had escorted us, and other men OF q similar
stamp. They were all tail and all handsome,
though they varied in their degree Of darkness
of skin, some being as dark as Mahomed and
some as yellow as Chinese. They were
naked, except for the leopard sai,i iound the
waist, and each OF them carried huge spear.
There were also SONS women among them,
who, instead of the leopard skin, wore tanned
hide of small red buck, something like the
oribe, only rather darker in color. These
women were, as class, exceedingly good look
ing, with large, dark eyes, well cut features,
and thick bush OF curling hair-not crisped
like negro's-and ranging from black Ia
chestnut in hue, with all shades Of interne-
diate color Some, but very few Of
them, wore yellowish linen garment
such as I have described as worn by
Ballah, but this, as we afterward dis
covered, was mark OF rank rather
than an attempt at clothing. For the rest
their appearance was not quito SO terrifying
as that of the men, and they sometimes
though rarely, smiled. AS soon as we bat
alighted they gathered round us, and exam
ined us with curiosity, but without excite
ment. Leo's tall, athletic form and clear GU
Grecian face, however. evidently excited theil
attention, and when he politely lifted his ha
to them and showed his curling yellow hair
there was a slight murmur of admiration
Nor did it stop there; for, after regarding
him critically from head to foot, the hand
soonest Of the young women--one wearing
robe, and with hair OF a shade between brown
and Observation-Disclosures advanced to him
and in way that would have been winnin,
, had it not been SO determined, quietly pu
her arm round his neck bent forward, AM
kissed him on the lips.
| gave gasp, expecting to see Leo in
stantly speared; and job CALCULATED; "Th
hussyl Well, / never!n As for Leo, II
looked slightly astonished; and then remark
ing that we had got into country wher
they clearly followed the customs of the earl
Christians, deliberately returned the EN-
brace
Again / gasped, thinking that somethin
would happen; but, to my surprise, thong
some of the young women showed traces Q
yexation, the older ones and the men onl
smiled slightly. When we came to under
stand the customs of this extraordinar
people the mystery was explained. 1t the
, appeared that, in direct opposition to tn
habits Of almost every other savage race i
; the world, women among the Amahagger ar
not only upon terms of perfect equality wit
the men, but are not held to them by an
,, binding ties. Descent is traced only throug
the line of the mother, and while individual
, are as proud Of long and superior femal
, ancestry as we are of our families in Europe
they never pay attention to or even acllnow
edge any man as their father, even when thei
malc parentage is perfectly well known
There is but one titular male parent of eac
tribe, or, as they call it, household" and b
is its immediate ruler, with the title Q
"father," For instance, tho old man Billal
was the father Of this "household," whic
consisted of about 1000 individuals all told
and no other man was ever called by tina
name. When woman took a fancy to
man she signified her preference by advant
ing and kissing him publicly in the same wa
that this handsome and exceedingly promp
young lady, who was called Ustane, had don
,, to Leo. If he kissed her back it was a toke
that he accepted her, and the arrangement
: continued till one of them wearied OF it,
, CHAPTER VII.
UsTANE SINGS